Look What I Did – “Atlas Drugged”
If you’ve heard this band before, and especially if you’re a fan, then their previous work Minuteman For The Moment is more than likely at the top of your list of most interesting albums you’ve ever heard, as their myspace quote pretty much sums up their brilliant existence: “confusing the shit out of hardcore kids since 2001.” LWID is not the most popular band, but their fan-base is strong and devoted. Their on-stage presence is unlike most, being fronted by a seemingly meth’ed out political lunatic backed by guitar noises among the likes of The Jesus Lizard mixed with Frank Zappa, Marnie Stern, and Faith No More. Not strange enough? How about you take all those references and throw in the fact that it’s CATCHY? This is the band that music snobs wish they could see on MTV and hear on the radio, but hope will never get too big so that they can pretentiously name them on the top of their list knowing not many people will understand.
Look What I Did’s latest effort, Atlas Drugged, is driven by politics, radio repetition, anti-misandry, religion, philosophy, and much more. However, it is done so well that you don’t even realize a song is about burning down the federal reserve until you’re singing along while reading the lyrics. The messages aren’t so cleverly hidden or subliminal as much as they are beautifully written in. The album moves swiftly, taking you from banging your head against the wall to jumping up and down to sitting back trying to figure out all the layers while hearing your own heartbeat. This album will certainly be at the top of your playlist for weeks on end, if not months (that is, if you can get a grasp in understanding the music). This isn’t for the commercial-friendly, but is certainly needs to be heard. Five out of five stars.
30 Seconds To Mars – “This Is War” Review
30 Seconds to Mars is a band which use to have an underground respect back in 2003 with their self-titled debut. In the past 2 or 3 years however, 30STM has been tarnished by douchebaggery, fashion, and ego. The last of the three being incredibly evident in their latest effort, This Is War.
I won’t lie…I actually use to be a big fan of this band. Their debut album I thought was amazing because it didn’t sound too much like everything else going on at the time, and being such a big fan of the movie Requiem For A Dream, I naturally thought it was cool to see Jared Leto having other talents outside of acting. It wasn’t so much him trying to make it as a singer because he wasn’t going on television putting his name out there as a musician. He came out with his band instead of as a solo act, which I thought was pretty humble. Even when A Beautiful Lie came out, I thought it was a pretty good album. It wasn’t until stories of Jared being a douchebag to people surfaced that I started losing respect (telling critics he wants to bash their heads in with a bat, pressing charges on a girl after getting punched in the face, etc). Along with that, every video they made was an epic attempt, which is nice at first, but can be extremely annoying three times after.
Enough on why everyone dislikes Jared, lets get to why I don’t like this album. Lets begin with the first track. Jared sings softly into the microphone similar to a Jonas brother while strings play in the background. The track ends with a choir of children yelling “this is war.” It then goes into the first fully-written song titled “Night Of The Hunter.” 30STM has always been known for their electronic sound, but the beginning of this song sounds far too similar to the cheesy Bon Jovi guitar effect. I keep waiting for Jared to scream out “it’s my life and it’s now or never.”
The rest of the album goes on to reveal more songs similar to “Night Of The Hunter” and the single, “Kings and Queens.” Though the production on this album is pretty amazing, I can’t help but feel that this album went far beyond what it needed. The song-writing is mediocre, and without the huge production budget this album would sound as terrible as the lyrics. In their previous albums, there was always a constant theme, but the songs seemed to differ from one another enough lyrically and musically to the point where it seemed justified. With This Is War, the theme is constant with the lyrics and all the songs sound far too much alike. At most times you can take the chorus to “Kings And Queens” and sing it over the others.
Jared seems to have bit off a bit more than he can chew with this album. The production is much bigger than his vision, and his writing has greatly suffered because of it. If you’re a fan of the band, you’ll find the album entertaining, but you certainly won’t like it as much as their previous efforts. It’s a shame to see such great production and engineering go to waste on mediocre music. For Jared’s sake, I know he’s been having a lot of money troubles so I hope this helps him, but I’m only giving this album a 2 out of 5. It’s not something I have much interest in listening to ever again.